Good/bad news for Atlantic City; Pennsylvania just bad

On the face of it, the news from Atlantic City is good: Gambling revenues were up 10% last month. But the same-store comparison (i.e., minus Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Resort) has the city down 9.5%. The haul was just over $272 million, with slots up 9% and table games 14% higher overall. For the older casinos, it was 10.5% less at the one-armed bandits but 14.5% more at the tables. At Borgata, which was 7% down despite holding its own at the tables, slot revenue fell 10% on 5.5% less coin-in.

The Caesars Entertainment trio was down, on average, 12%, with only Bally’s offering sports betting and that starting only on July 30, too late to have a material impact. Ocean Resort was the winner at the sports books, averaging $33,000 a day against Borgata’s $18,000. PR flack Zack Hall spun the numbers as “New Jersey scores big in first full month of sports betting,” while the new kid on the gaming-analyst block, Cameron McKnight responded “Slow start in New Jersey not a surprise.” In the battle of the pundits, Hall argued that wagers increased “dramatically” in June (not a difficult achievement, considering how few books were open that month), with PlayNJ.com‘s Dustin Gouker adding, “The underlying data points are impressive … And it’s important to remember that this is the industry’s infancy. A mature, fully established New Jersey sports betting market could field billions of dollars in annual wagers.” (Resorts Atlantic City launched its DraftKings-branded sports book at noon today.)

The statewide numbers also reflect a month of business from Monmouth Park and a fortnight from Meadowlands Racetrack. The latter’s FanDuel-branded book led all, with $43,790 per day. Added McKnight, “This is well below the $47.29 annual per capita spend we’re estimating for New Jersey in our market model, and $33.31 for the US market overall. It’s clearly early days, with sports betting in New Jersey only live for 47 days, mobile apps only rolled out in the past month, and a seasonally slow sports calendar.”

As for Internet gambling, it rose 14% to $26 million, the 45th consecutive month of growth. Top dog Golden Nugget, powered by the Golden Nugget, Betfair and SugarHouse brands, grossed over $9 million, while Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Resort came out of the starting blocks with $329,650 and $249,805. Noteworthy market shares were Golden Nugget (36%), Borgata (19%), Resorts (15%) and Tropicana Atlantic City (13%).

As for terrestrial gaming, McKnight estimates that Borgata lost 5% of market share, Tropicana ceded 3% and the Roman empire yielded 3% to the newcomers. Ocean Resort’s hot start cooled a bit, as it grossed $16 million last month (tables $3 million-plus, slots $12.5 million) but Hard Rock kept at a fierce clip, grossing $32.5 million (tables $10.5 million, slots $22. million) despite the handicap of one less weekend day.

No incumbent casino was revenue-positive for July although Golden Nugget weathered it best, down 3% to $20 million. As for the Caesars properties, Harrah’s Resort took the hardest hit, falling 14% to $31.5 million, while Caesars Atlantic City slid 10% to $29.5 million and Bally’s stumbled 10% to $20.5 million. Ocean Resort had the indignity of falling behind perennial laggard Resorts Atlantic City, which grossed $18 million despite a 13% falloff. Bruce Deifik‘s going to have to do better than that if he’s going to achieve his stated goal of dethroning the Trop. Speaking of which Tropicana Atlantic City ($34 million) managed to hold onto second place, slipping 10% in the process.

Gaming pundits opined that these salad days in Atlantic City are unlikely to last. “I expect the numbers to be up. But, I don’t see positive outside of July and August,” opined Boardwalk veteran Steve Norton. With Cassandra-like precision, Norton predicted the 10% surge before it had been announced, “because of the combination of the casino openings plus legalized sports betting and a mid-week holiday,” reported The Press of Atlantic City. His Rx for the seaside city is more Millennials from nearby markets plus an infusion of tourists from the Southeast and Southwest. (Good luck with that.) “Atlantic City needs to change its method of business. Until we get some new markets, we’re going to get curiosity seekers and little more,” he argued.

The doom-and-gloom outlook was handled by former Bally’s exec Wayne Schaffel, who said that if July’s increase wasn’t “at least 15 percent, somebody’s not going to make it.” However, unlike Norton, he undershot the mark when predicted the surge, pegging it between 6% and 8%.

* Detroit was flat last month at all properties save Jack Greektown (pictured), up 2%. MGM Grand Detroit laughed off competition, grossing $51 million, while MotorCity posted $40.5 million and Greektown took in $28 million.

* Plainridge Park slipped a bit last month, with revenue down 2% on 4.5% less coin-in. The racino still managed a more-than-impressive $391 win/slot/day.

* Speaking of slots, Pennsylvania numbers are in and, except for Valley Forge which gained 5% ($7.5 million), everyone was flat or revenue-negative. The former category includes Parx Casino ($35 million), Presque Isle Downs ($10.5 million), Rivers Casino ($24.5 million) and SugarHouse ($15 million). Taking various hits were Mount Airy (-10.5%, $13 million), Hollywood Casino (-7%, $17 million), Mohegan Sun (-9%, $17 million), Harrah’s Philadelphia (-2%, $16.5 million), The Meadows (-3%, $19 million), Sands Bethlehem (-2.5%, $26 million) and Lady Luck Nemacolin (-6%, $3 million).